Pete Crow-Armstrong has elevated his game to a level that the Chicago Cubs probably never even dreamed of. Or, at the very least, the center fielder has met the highest expectations much faster than the team ever imagined. In Wednesday’s 9-7 win over the Baltimore Orioles, Crow-Armstrong once again accomplished something fans haven’t seen in a couple of decades, not only in Cubs history but across all of MLB.
Crow-Armstrong became this year’s first 20/20 player, doing so by clobbering two home runs against the Orioles. The first gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the third inning, and his second put them ahead 4-3 in the fifth. Not only did Crow-Armstrong reach the 20/20 mark first this year, but he also did it before the All-Star break for the second consecutive season.
No other Cubs player has done that since Sammy Sosa did so in 1993 and 1995. The only other time anyone in MLB did it before the All-Star break was when Alfonso Soriano did it in the early 2000s.
In terms of Cubs history alone, we’re looking at an All-Time player. Going back nearly a century, Crow-Armstrong is among only five players to display this kind of power and speed.
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The two home runs against the Orioles gave Crow-Armstrong his eighth career multi-homer game, setting a new record in Cubs franchise history for players under 25.
Who did Crow-Armstrong break the tie with? You’ve probably heard of these guys.
But let’s go back to all of MLB history. Crow-Armstrong has been great since the middle of April, but he’s taken off for the past five weeks or so, which have been flat-out ridiculous.
That by itself is truly jaw-dropping, but when you put it into historical context, you can appreciate how Pete Crow-Armstrong has been on a once a lifetime stretch.
According to Stathead, 12 players (AL/NL since 1900) have had a 34-game stretch with 15+ HR & 10+ Stolen Bases. Only one has done it while hitting .400: Pete Crow-Armstrong.
You begin to lose words to describe him. Crow-Armstrong has been everything you’d hoped for and more. A rare talent, doing rare things, and he’s still only 24-years-old.
